Some of the definitions used in 1960 differ from those used in 1950. These changes were made after consultation with users of census data in order to improve the statistics, even though it was recognized that comparability would be affected. The Definitions and Explanations should be interpreted in the context of the 1960 Censuses, in which data were collected by a combination of self-enumeration, direct interview, and observation, by the enumerator.

The definitions below are consistent with the instructions given to the enumerator. As in all surveys, there were some failures to execute the instructions exactly. Through the forms distributed to households, the respondents were given explanations of some of the questions more uniformly than would have been given in direct interviews. Nevertheless, it was not feasible to give the full instructions to the respondents, and some erroneous replies have undoubtedly gone undetected.
More complete discussions of the definitions of population and housing items are given in 1960 Census of Population, Volume I, Characteristics of the Population, Part 1, United States Summary, and each of the State parts and in 1960 Census of Housing, Volume I, States and Small Areas.

Employment Status

The data on employment status relate to the calendar week prior to the date on which the respondents filled their Household Questionnaires or were interviewed by enumerators. This week is not the same for all respondents because not all persons were enumerated during the same week.

Employed persons comprise all civilians 14 years old and over who were either (a) "at work"-those who did any work for pay or profit, or worked without pay for 15 hours or wore on a family farm or in a family business; or (b) were "with a job but not at work" - those who did not work and were not looking for work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of bad weather, industrial dispute, vacation, illness, or other personal reasons.

Persons are classified as unemployed if they were lb years old and over and not "at work" but looking for work. A person is considered as looking for work not only if he actually tried to find work but also if he had made such efforts recently (i.e., within the past 60 days) and was awaiting the results of these efforts. Persons waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off or furloughed are also counted as unemployed. Unemployed persons who have worked at any time in the past are classified as the "experienced unemployed."

The "civilian labor force" includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed, as described above. The "labor force" also includes members of the Armed Forces (persons on active duty with the United States Amy, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard). The "Experienced Civilian Labor Force" comprises the employed and the experienced unemployed.

Persons "not in the labor force" comprise all those 14 years old and over who are not classified as members of the labor force, including persons doing only incidental unpaid family work (less than 15 hours during the week).

The statistics on Hours Worked pertain to the number of hours actually worked, and not necessarily to the number usually worked or the scheduled number of hours. For persons working at more than one job, the figures reflect the combined number of Hours Worked at all jobs during the week. The data on Hours Worked presented in this report provide a broad classification of persons at work into full-time and part-time workers. Persons are considered to be working full time if they worked 35 hours or more during the reference week and part time if they worked less than 35 hours.

The data on occupation, as well as industry and class of worker, were derived from answers to the questions on the Household Questionnaire.

In the 1960 Census of Population, information on occupation was collected for persons in the experiences. civilian, labor force as veil as for persons not in the current labor force but who had worked some time during the period 1950 to April 1960. For an employed person, the information referred to the job he held during the reference period. If he was employed at two or more jobs, the job at which he worked the greatest number of hours during the reference period was reported. For experienced unemployed persons, i.e., unemployed persons who have had job experience, and for those not in the labor force, the occupational information referred to the last job that had been held.

The occupational classification system used in the 1960 Census of Population, as described below, was developed in consultation with, many individuals., private organizations, and government agencies, and in particular the Interagency Occupational Classification Committee of the United States Bureau of the Budget.

The occupational classification system developed for the 1960 Census of Population is organized into 12 major groups and consists of 297 specific occupation categories. The composition of the 297 specific categories is shown in the publication, U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1960 Census of Population, Classified Index of Occupations and Industries, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1960.

For presentation of occupational data in this report, several levels of classification are used. Sub-groupings of 17 of the 297 specific occupations (mainly on the basis of industry) are made, resulting in the presentation of approximately 500 items in the detailed listing. Also presented is the intermediate classification system, which presents 161 items for males and 70 for females. Tables focusing on unpaid family workers present data on selected occupations for this group. Both the intermediate classification and the occupations for unpaid family workers represent selections and combinations of occupation categories in the detailed system. The relationship between the detailed and intermediate levels of classification is given in Lists A and B for males and females, respectively.

In the separation of "managers, officials, and proprietors (n.e.c.)" by class of worker into salaried and self-employed components, the number of unpaid family workers in this occupation is included in the self-employed component. Since the data presented in this report refer only to civilians, the category "former members of the Armed Forces" for experienced unemployed and for persons in the labor reserve is limited to those whose last job was as a member of the Armed Forces.

The abbreviation "n.e.c." used in occupation tables of the census means "not elsewhere classified."

The subdivisions by industry shown for a number of occupations are based on the 1960 Population Census Industrial classification system. An explanation of this system, including its relation to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC), is given in 1960 Census of Population, Volume I, Characteristics of the Population, Part 1, United States Summary, and in the Volume II report, PC(2)-7C, Occupation by Industry.

The occupational classification of the Population Census is Generally comparable with the system used in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).1 The two systems, however, are designed to meet different needs and to be used under different circumstances. The DOT system is designed primarily for employment service needs such as placement and counseling, and is ordinarily used to classify very detailed occupational in-formation obtained in an interview with the worker himself. The census system, on the other hand, is designed for statistical purposes and is ordinarily used in a self-enumeration questionnaire or in an interview with a member of the worker's family. As a result, the DOT system is much more detailed than the census system; and it also calls for many types of distinctions which cannot be made from census information.

In the Population Census classification systems, the industry category "agriculture" is somewhat more inclusive than the total of the two major occupation groups, "farmers and farm managers" and "farm laborers and foremen." The industry category also includes (a) persons employed on farms in occupations such as truck driver, mechanic, and bookkeeper, and (b) persons engaged in agricultural activities other than strictly farm operation, such as crop dusting or spraying, cotton ginning, and landscape gardening. Similarly, the industry category "private households" is somewhat more inclusive than the major occupation group "private household workers." In addition to the baby sitters, housekeepers, laundresses, and miscellaneous types of domestic workers covered by the major occupation group, the industry category includes persons in occupations such as chauffeurs, gardeners, and secretaries, if they are employed by private families.

Changes in schedule design and interviewing techniques between 1950 and 1960 may have affected comparability for some of the occupation categories. For example, a person may report his own job activities differently on self-enumeration when he is to report for himself, as contrasted to the 1950 direct enumeration procedure, where job description were normally obtained in an interview with a member of the worker's family (usually his wife).

The occupational classification system used in 1940 and 1950 Is basically the same as that of 1950. There are a number of differences, however, in title and content for certain items, as well as in the degree of detail shown for the various major groups. For 1930 and earlier censuses, the occupational classification system was markedly different from the 1960 system. The following publications contain information on the various factors of comparability and are particularly useful for understanding differences in the occupation information from earlier censuses: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census Reports, Population, Comparative Occupation Statistics for the United States, 1670 to 1940, 1943, and Bureau of the Census Working Paper No. 5, Occupational Trends in the United States: 1900 to 1950, 1958.

To show the degree of consistency between the 1960 Census 25-percent sample and the April 1960 CPS, the percent of employed persons in the major occupation groups is compared in table A. The base of the percentages from the Census excludes workers who did not report their occupation.

Table A. Percent Distribution of Employed Persons by Major Occupation Group, According to 1960 Census and To April 1960 Current Population Survey

Major occupation group

Census (25-percent sample)

CPS

Total employed

100.0

100.0

Professional, technical, and kindred workers

11.8

11.4

Farmers and farm managers

4.1

4.3

Managers, officials, and propr's, exc. Farm

8.8

10.5

Celrical and kindred workers

15.1

14.6

Sales workers

7.6

6.7

Craftsmen, foremen, and kindred workers

14.2

13.0

Operatives and kindred workers

19.4

18.1

Private household workers

2.8

3.3

Service workers, exc. priv. household

8.9

9.3

Farm laborers and foremen

2.3

3.4

Laborers, exc. farm and mine

5.0

5.4

The differences that exist between the national data from the Population Census and the CPS are due to a number of factors. Among these are the more extensive training, control, and experience of the CPS enumerators; differences in the time period to which the labor force data apply (the CPS covering the week containing the 12th of the month whereas the census covered the week prior to the date the respondent filled his questionnaire or was interviewed); differences in question wording and format of the schedules; differences in the methods used to process the original data into statistical tables; differences in the weighting procedure and in the population controls; differences in noninterview rates and the treatment of noninterviev cases; and the Sampling Variability in the CPS and in the 5-percent sample used in this report. For further comparisons of CPS and census data, see section below on "Quality of data on occupation."

Comparability between statistics presented in this report and statistics from other sources is frequently affected by differences' in concepts and definitions. Because the 1960 Census employment data were obtained from households, they differ from statistics based on reports from Individual business establishments, farm enterprises, certain government programs. In data shown here, persons employed at more than one job are counted only once as employed and are classified according to the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the reference week. In statistics based upon reports from business and farm establishments, on the other hand, persons who work for more than one establishment may be counted more than once. Moreover, establishment data, unlike those presented here, generally exclude private household workers, unpaid family workers, and self-employed persons, and may include workers less than 14 years of age. An additional difference arises from the fact that persons with a job but not at work are included with the employed in the statistics shown here, whereas only part of this group is likely to be included in employment figures based on establishment payroll reports.
In addition, comparability between statistics presented in this report and statistics from other sources is frequently affected by the use of different classification systems. Occupation figures from the Population Census are not always directly comparable with data from government licensing agencies, professional associations, trade unions, etc. Among the sources of difference may be the inclusion in the organizational listing of retired persons or persons devoting all or most of their time to another occupation, the inclusion of the same person in two or more different listings, and the fact that relatively fey organizations attain complete coverage of membership in an occupation field.

Many of the figures shown here are probably subject to some understatement because of the omission of some marginal workers from the count of employed persons. For example, housewives, students, and semi-retired persons, who are in the labor force on only a part-time or intermittent basis, may fall to report they are employed. These omissions arise from the difficulty of applying certain of the employment status concepts, and, perhaps more Important, from the fact that complete information is not always obtained for certain groups. The age group with the largest relative difference in the number of persons In the labor force in the 1960 Census and the Current Population Survey was that for 14 to 24 years old. This group has a relatively large proportion of persons in the labor force who work part time (33.2 percent) and who, therefore, may fail to report that they are employed.

Table B presents a comparison of employment status data between the 1960 Census and April 1960 CPS, The estimated size of the employed population in the United States based on the Current Population Survey is slightly over 2 percent above the corresponding census figure. This difference represents a considerable improvement over the 1950 comparison in which the CPS figure exceeded the census figure by about 5-percent.

Table B. Comparison of Employment Status of the Civilian Noninstitutional Population: 1960 Census and April 1960 CPS
(Thousands of persons 14 years of age and over)

Employment Status

Census1 (25-percent sample)

April CPS

Difference

Number

Percent of CPS

Total

122,783

122,406

+377

+0.3

Labor force

68,144

69,819

-1,675

-2.4

Employed

64,639

66,159

-1,520

-2.3

Agriculture

4,257

5,393

-1,136

-21.1

Nonagriculture

60,382

60,766

-384

-0.6

Unemployed

3,505

3,660

-155

-4.2

Not in labor force

54,639

52,587

+2,052

+3.9

1 1960 Census of Population, Volume I, Characteristics of the Population, Part 1, United States Summary, chapter C.

The application of a detailed occupational classification to approximately 65 million workers is obviously subject to some error. Although the number of misclassifications probably does not have any serious effect on the usefulness of the data, there are a few cases where relatively small numbers of erroneous returns may produce what might be regarded as a serious misstatement of the facts. Some of the more obvious misclassifications have been edited, but it was not possible to perform a complete review of the data for all discrepancies.
More information on quality of the data will be available after various census evaluation projects are completed.

The median is presented in connection with the data on age, Years of School Completed, income, and rent of housing unit. It is the value which divides the distribution into two equal parts, one-half the cases falling below this value and one-half the cases exceeding this value.

A plus (+) or minus (-) sign after the median indicates that the median is above or below that number. For example, a median of $10,000+ for income indicates that the median fell in the interval "$10,000 or more."

In General, the urban population comprises all persons living in urbanized areas and in places of 2,500 inhabitants or more outside urbanized areas. More specifically, according to the definition adopted for use in the 1960 Census, the urban population comprises all persons living in (a) places of 2,500 inhabitants or more incorporated as cities, boroughs, villages, and towns (except towns in New England, New York, and Wisconsin); (b) the densely settled urban fringe, whether incorporated or unincorporated, of urbanized areas; (c) towns in New England and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania which contain no incorporated municipalities as subdivisions and have either 25,000 inhabitants or more or a population of 2,500 to 25,000 and a density of 1,500 persons or more per square mile; (d) counties in States other than the New England States, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania that have no incorporated municipalities within their boundaries and have a density of 1,500 persons or more per square mile; and (e) unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more. The population not classified as urban constitutes the rural population.

The rural population is subdivided into the rural-farm population, which comprises all rural residents living on farms, and the rural-nonfarm population, which comprises the remaining rural population. The nonfarm population, as the term is used in this report, comprises persons living in urban areas and rural persons not on farms. In the 1960 Census, the farm population consists of persons living in rural territory on places of 10 or more acres from which sales of farm products amounted to $50 or more in 1959 or on places of less than 10 acres from which sales of farm products amounted to $250 or more in 1959. All persons living in group quarters are classified as nonfarm except the relatively few living in workers' quarters (including quarters for migratory agricultural workers) that are located on a farm or ranch.

The three major race categories distinguished in this report are white, Negro, and other races. Among persons of "other races" are American Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Hawaiians, Asian Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, and Malayans. Negroes and persons of "other races" taken together constitute "nonwhite" persons. Persons of Mexican birth or descent who are not definitely of Indian or other non-white race are classified as white. In addition to persons of Negro and of mixed Negro and white descent, the category "Negro" includes persons of mixed Indian and Negro descent unless the Indian ancestry very definitely predominates or unless the person is regarded as an Indian in the community.

This category comprises persons born in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a possession of the United States; persons born in a foreign country or at sea who have at least one native American parent; and persons whose place of birth was not reported and whose census report contained no contradictory information, such as an entry of a language spoken prior to coming to the United States.

In this report, the native population is further classified into the following groups: Persons born in the State in which they were residing at the time of the census, persons born in a different State in the same region, and persons born in a different region. Persons born in an outlying area of the United States, persons born abroad or at sea of native American parents, and persons whose State of birth was not reported are all Included in the category "State not reported." The 1960 instructions specified that place of birth was to be reported in terms of the mother's usual State of residence at the time of the birth rather than in terms of the location of the hospital if the birth occurred in a hospital.

School Enrollment is shown for persons 5 to years old. Persons were included as enrolled in school if they were reported as attending or enrolled in a "regular" school or college at any time between February 1, 1960, and the time of enumeration. Regular schooling is that which may advance a person toward an elementary school certificate or high school diploma, or a. college, university, or professional degree. Schooling that was not obtained in a regular school and schooling from a tutor or through correspondence courses were counted only if the credits obtained were regarded as transferable to a school in the regular school system. Schooling which is generally regarded as not regular includes that which is given in nursery schools; in specialized vocational, trade, or business schools; in on-the-job training; and through correspondence courses.

The data on Years of School Completed were derived from the answers to the two questions; (a) "What is the highest grade (or year) of regular school he has ever attended?" and (b) "Did he finish this grade (or year}?" Enumerators were instructed to obtain the approximate equivalent grade in the American school system for persons whose highest grade of attendance was in a foreign school system, whose highest level of attendance was in an ungraded school, whose highest level of schooling was measured by "readers," or whose training by a tutor was regarded as qualifying under the "regular" school definition. Persons were to answer "No" to the second question if they were attending school, had completed only part of a grade before they dropped out, or failed to pass the last grade attended.

The number in each category of highest grade of school completed represents the combination of (a) persons who reported that they had attended the indicated grade and finished it, and (b) those who had attended the next higher grade but had not finished it.

Elementary school, as defined here, includes grades 1 to 8, and High school includes grades 9 to 12. College includes junior or community colleges regular V-year colleges, and graduate or professional schools.

This classification refers to the marital status of the person at the time of enumeration. Persons classified as "married" comprise, therefore, both those who have been married only once and those who remarried after having been widowed or divorced. Persons reported as separated (either legally separated or otherwise absent from the spouse because of marital discord) are classified as a subcategory of married persons. The enumerators were instructed to report persons in common-law marriages as married and persons whose only marriage had been annulled as single. Persons "ever married" are those in the categories married (including separated), widowed, and divorced.

The number of married man may be different from the number of married women for an area because of the absence of husbands or wives from the country, because the husband and wife have different places of residence, because of the methods used to inflate the sample data, or for other reasons.

A married person with "spouse present" is a man or woman whose spouse was enumerated as a member of the same household even though he or she may have been temporarily absent on business or vacation, visiting, in a hospital, etc., at the time of enumeration.

Household, Housing Unit, Group Quarters, And Relationship to Head of Household

A household consists of all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a single room, is regarded as a housing unit when, it is occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and there is either (1) direct access from the outside or through a common hall or (2) a kitchen or cooking equipment for the exclusive use of the occupants.

All persons who are not members of households are regarded as living in group quarters. Group quarters are living arrangements for institutional inmates or for other groups containing five or more persons unrelated to the person in charge. Most of the persons in group quarters live in rooming houses, college dormitories, military barracks, or Institutions. Inmates of institutions are persons for whom care or custody is provided in such places as homes for delinquent or dependent children; homes and schools for the mentally or physically handicapped; places providing specialized medical care for persons with mental disorders, tuberculosis, or other chronic disease; nursing and domiciliary homes for the aged and dependent; prisons; and jails.

For persons in households, several categories of relationship to head of household are recognized in this report:

1. The head of the household is the member reported as the head by the household respondent. However, if a married woman living with her husband is reported as the head, her husband is classified as the head for the purpose of census tabulations.
2. The wife of a head of a household is a woman married to and living with a household head. This category includes women in common-law marriages as well as women in formal marriages.
3. A child of the head is a son, daughter, stepchild, or adopted child of the head of the household. "Child of head" is a more inclusive category than "own child of head" (defined below).
4. An other relative of the head is a person related to the head of the household by blood, marriage, or adoption, but not included specifically in another category.

A family consists of two or more persons in the same household who are related to each other by blood, marriage, or adoption; all persons living in one household who are related to each other are regarded as one family. In a primary family, the head of the family is the head of a household. Other families are secondary families.

A subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or one parent with one or more own children under 18 years old, living in a housing unit and related to the head of the household or his wife. The number of subfamilies is not included in the count of families.

An own child of a woman ever married is defined here as a single (never married) son, daughter, stepchild, or adopted child of the woman. Only those children who are present in the home are included in the count of women by number of own children.

The data on Weeks Worked In 1959 pertain to the number of different weeks during 1959 in which a person did any work for pay or profit (including paid vacation and sick leave) or worked without pay on a family farm or in a family business. Weeks of active service in the Armed Forces are also included.

The "Year Last Worked" pertains to the most recent year in which a person did any work for pay or profit, or worked without pay on a family farm or in a family business. Active service in the Armed Forces is also included. Data derived from this item were tabulated for persons classified as not in the labor force and for persons classified as unemployed. Persons not in the labor force with work experience within the last 10 years are referred to as members of the "labor reserve."

The data on industry in this report refer to the job held during the week for which employment status and occupation was reported. For persons employed at two or more jobs, the data refer to the job at which the person worked the greatest number of hours. The industry data, as well as the occupation data, presented here are based on the detailed systems developed for the 1960 Census; see 1960 Census of Population, Classified Index of Occupations and Industries, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1960.

The class-of-worker information refers to the same job as the occupation information. The assignment of a person to a particular class-of-worker category is basically independent, however, of the occupation in which he worked.

The classification by class of worker consists of four categories which are defined as follows:

1. Private wage and salary workers
Persons who worked for a private employer for wages, salary, commission, tips, pay-in-kind, or at piece rates.
2. Government workers
Persons who worked for any governmental unit (Federal, State, local, or international), regardless of the activity which the particular agency carried on.
3. Self-employed workers
Persons who worked for profit or fees in their own business, profession, or trade, or who operated a farm either as an owner or tenant. Included here are the owner-operators of large stores and manufacturing establishments as well as small merchants, independent craftsmen and professional men, farmers, peddlers, and other persons who conducted enterprises of their own. Persons paid to manage businesses owned by other persons or by corporations, on the other hand, are classified as private wage and salary workers (or, in some few cases, as government workers).

Persons who worked without pay on a farm or in a business operated by a person to whom they are related by blood or marriage. The great majority of unpaid family workers are farm laborers.

Wage and salary workers include private wage and salary workers and government workers, as defined above.

The relatively small number of employed persons for whom class of worker was not reported have been included among private wage and salary workers unless there was evidence on the census schedule that they should have been classified in one of the other class-of-worker categories.

Information on income for the calendar year 1959 was requested from all persons 14 years old and over in the sample. "Total income" is the sum of amounts reported separately for wage or salary income, self-employment income, and other income. Wage or salary income is defined as the total money earnings received for work performed as an employee. It represents the amount received before deductions for personal income taxes, Social Security, bond purchases, union dues, etc. Self-employment income is defined as net money income (gross receipts minus operating expenses) from a business, farm, or professional enterprise in which the person was engaged on his own account. Earnings are obtained by summing wage or salary, and self -employment income. Other income Includes money income received from such sources as net rents, interest, dividends, Social Security benefits, pensions, veterans' payments, unemployment insurance, and public assistance or other governmental payments, and periodic receipts from insurance policies or annuities. Not included as income are money received from the sale of property (unless the recipient was engaged in the business of selling such property), the value of income "in kind," withdrawals of bank deposits, money borrowed, tax refunds, and gifts and lump-sum inheritances or, insurance payments.

A housing unit is "occupied" if it is the usual place of residence of the person or group of persons living in it at the time of enumeration. Included are units occupied by persons who are only temporarily absent, such as persons on vacation. Units occupied by persons with no usual place of residence are also considered occupied.

A housing unit is "owner occupied" if the owner or co-owner lives in the unit, even if it is mortgaged or not fully paid for the head himself need not be the owner. All other occupied units are classified as "renter occupied," whether or not cash rent is paid.

Value is the respondent's estimate of how much the property would sell for on the current market (April 1960). Value data are restricted to owner-occupied units having only one housing unit in the property and no business. Units in multiunit structures and trailers were excluded from the tabulations, and in rural territory, units on farms and all units on places of 10 acres or more (whether farm or nonfarm) also were excluded.

Gross rent is based on the information reported for contract rent and the cost of utilities and fuel. Contract rent is the monthly rent agreed upon regardless of any furnishings, utilities, or services that may be included. The computed rent termed "gross rent" is the contract rent plus the average monthly cost of utilities (water, electricity, gas) and fuels such as wood, coal, and oil if these items are paid for by the renter. Thus, gross rent eliminates differentials which result from varying practices with respect to the inclusion of utilities and fuel as part of the rental payment. Rent data exclude rents for units in rural-farm territory.